Restocking my aquarium

[Elsabe]

I bought a 60litre (13gallon?) tank about 3 months ago and I must admit I made a big mistake by trusting the shop ownwer to know everything! I didnt do my homework beforehand cause I thought he would know best, being in the business for 35 years and all so I ended up with the wrong fish. At least he told me to wait two weeks after putting natural bacteria into the water and only gave me the fish and plants after he tested the water PH and nitrates, but he failed to tell me I cant put tap water into the tank so I ended up with some fatalities. I think there was a disease that got into my tank from the tap water. These days Im doing my 10% water change a week with bottled spring water and the remaining fish seems to do fine. What I have left in my tank now is 1 Marble Angel male, one cory, 4 mountain minnows (2male 2female) and 2 Bala sharks (I know now that he shouldn't have given me those for my size tank so I hope to get a bigger tank once I get the hang of this or give them away as soon as they get too big)

Now my question is, what to introduce next and when... My last platy died a week ago and they all had the same disease that I cant find on the net... They got skinny and their backs all arched... Not in an s like fish TB so I have no idea what it was. How long should I wait to make sure the disease is not in the other fish? None of them show the first signs (fins tucked in and hiding behind plants) yet.

As to what fish.. I thought of getting my male angel a friend again... Hes such a sweetheart and i feel so sorry for him. Then also another cory friend for my cory. After that I would like to have some more colour fish as none of these I have left has any colour. Im scared to have platys again as they really suffered from this disease... Do you think if i get them again they will get the disease again? I really loved them! The guppies seemed to fight with some of the fish... Dont know who cause i never saw any fighting, they just started to loose parts of their tail fins and then the rest of the fins and then they died. At first I had a male and a female and when they died I got two males who died the same way. One actually just vanished. Could it be fin rot? I did treat them with green medical fin treatment and salt but they died too soon to see a difference.

Also when I start to introduce new fish, how many should i bring in at a time? And how many can I get? All my fish are still very small so Im thinking of stocking to 13 fish, then they still have some growing space as I have a 13gallon and a few smaller than 1inch fish like minnows and corys... Also keeping in mind I absolutely wont keep the Balas forever in that tank so thats minus two for later??

So basically i think I have space for 5 more?? So can I first bring an angel (male or female??) and cory, and then later 3 platys??

Ps sorry I know this post is very messy

 

[librarygirl]

Hi and welcome!

Unfortunately for this size tank you're already overstocked. Angels shouldn't be in anything less than a 30 gal. The sharks, as you know already, need a much larger tank, actually at least a 120 gal (they prefer groups of at least 3-5 too which you can't do now either) since they'll get large and are active. The cory does need some friends....a few more corys are the only thing I'd add.

Have you tested the tank's parameters (ammonia, etc)? That's pretty important to know especially if they are showing signs of illness as may illnesses are caused by toxins in the water.

Why can't you use tap water? Tap water is fine to use as long as you dechlorinate it first (most any dechlorinator will do; Seachem PRime is one of the better brands). You should be doing 50% water changes weekly, assuming the tank is cycled (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, <20 nitrates).

I wouldn't add the corys until you know your tank's parameters and whether or not the fish are sick from something. Long-term, you'll need to either upgrade to a larger tank (30 minimum to keep the angel with the other fish and get rid of the sharks, 120+ gals if you want to keep the sharks too) or rehome the angel and sharks and restock based on your tank size.

Here's a link if you haven't seen it: Guide to Starting a Freshwater Aquarium - Aquarium Advice

 

[Fishperson]

I agree with Librarygirl. The guy at the lfs lied if he recommended those fish. If you upgrade to at least 30 gallons (140 liters?) you can keep the angelfish. You should try to give the lfs the bala sharks, they will take them, unless you want to get a 100+ gallon tank!
IDK, maybe you do, who am I to judge people!

If you get rid of the angel and the sharks, you could get two more minnows and 4 more cories. I recommend upgrading your tank. If you dont want to keep the angel, maybe get a 20 gallon, and like I said, you could keep the angels if you got a 30, which is what I recommend. Just remember that the angels will grow to 4 inches long and 4 inches tall.

If you don't know what cycling is (not like bicycle, a different kind), you need to do some research. There are tons of threads about people needing help cycling. You should do some research about that before you look at the threads, then you will have a bit of background info before you here about it. I have started a thread about fishless cycling, and I am cycling my 20 gallon tank right now. I have been planning my tank since before October, and it won't be ready for 3 more weeks. My advice is, research, research, then plan, and when you think you have done enough planning, you might be halfway done! Planning your tank and researching is everything.

Good luck, and by the way. Keep us updated.

 

[Elsabe]

Thank you for your advice! Believe it or not, but I may be getting a 100G tank now! I found a great second hand one online from someone that lives very close to me and is immigrating overseas. It has an H2O external canister filter aswell. I just need the best for my Angel... I love him to bits! This time I will do my research thoroughly though... I think the average South African fish shop is not that clued up... shame, poor fishies

How many fishies can I keep in this tank? It comes with a big pleco

 

[Elsabe]

Oh yes and librarygirl all the parameters are fine and what I meant about the tap water is that he never told me to put chlorinator in it!!?? So i didnt do that for the first two months eek.. Im surprised so many of them survived. Only a month ago did I read online about that and went and bought it but I must say the botteled water is just so much clearer that I prefer it. Wont be able to with the 100G if I get it though!

Fishperson yes I know all about cycling thanx, been there done that!

 

[librarygirl]

Well 100 gal is better but I still think it would be tight if you kept the sharks (they prefer groups so you'd need to add more which will take up room). Not sure how the other fish, particularly the corys, would fare with sharks in the tank either. I'd recommend rehoming the sharks which would open up a lot of room for other fish.

What kind of pleco? If it's a Common that could be problematic as well as they can grow very large (18 or so inches) and would need an even larger tank.

 

[Elsabe]

Oh yes i should have updated... The tank comes with a few more tankmates but I found a new home for all of them plus my bala sharks, so what i kept from the new tank is 4 black widow tetras and 2 glass catfish. So now im left with those and the angel, the cory and 4 mountain minnows. That leaves me a bit more space to get two female angels for my male, two more cory friends and then Id like some more colorful fish... Maybe some red wagtail platys, discus, guppies and gouramis in good time?

 

[Fishperson]

Yeah, you could add some discus, I think. You might want to add more fish for each of the schooling fish, the tetras, minnows, etc. The gouramis might be aggressive with some of the other fish, but platys should do fine. A 100 gallon sounds really exciting!
Good luck!

 

[Elsabe]

Thanx